Hello, join me as I tick off 2 more climbs, in Surrey, from the top 60 climbs in the south east of England and they aren’t where you think they are!! Slightly longer video today so…..hope you enjoy ✌️
I’d be interested to know what you guys think, comments and suggestions always welcome. Thank you for watching 🤘
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Links
Strava – Rookie C
Channel @therookiecyclist
Instagram @therookiecyclist
Link to my Sponsor and bike mechanic MG Cycles https://mgcycles.co.uk/
Simon Warren’s books inspired this YouTube challenge if you want more details here’s his website https://www.100climbs.co.uk/books that has both the app I’m using and the book (Cycling climbs of south east England)
Video intro created by Charles Christie, for Custom Animations, Logos, Videography and more contact – charles.christie@outlook.com
Music – Down love by Down love from Artlist.oi
15 Comments
Safety first, wise choice 👍
That first climb was a "cardiac crusher"! Good instinct on bypassing the second climb.. No need to tempt fate. Glad to see you got both cake and glory today. I need to find some of that Millionaire Shortbread.
Definitely the right call to avoid the dodgy one. We have some roads around here that are just not safe to ride unless you get there really early in the morning and there is barely any traffic. Bit of a bummer as going round usually adds just over 10 miles to the end of a ride!
Back on the hill climbs wise choice to miss the second climb out because of a few close calls with cars I wonder when I’m sometimes out on rides and you have narrow calls with cars where is it they have to be so urgently that they cannot just wait 🤬
Great vid, great climbs! Never done White Lane for the reasons you mentioned, it just seemed difficult to access from a busy steep road. You definitely made the right call on skipping Chalk Pit, I'd hate to do that climb with traffic. I've only done it on Sunday mornings with very few cars, maybe that's the time to aim for, or maybe I just got lucky. Finally I'm usually going down Hill Top Lane on longer trips out to Sussex and Kent, but I've gone up it once or twice as well. Apart from a steep corner right at the end it's not that bad is it, I think Simon Warren overrates it for sure, Farthing Downs is a great reward at the end.
Your video reminded me of how much debris there can be on some of the smaller lanes in Surrey, it's a little shocking. I have a friend living out on a very small and hilly remote Japanese island in the middle of the Pacific. From the photos, the forested mountain roads out there look spotless. Smooth, flat tarmac, no potholes and barely any leaves. If they can do that on a tiny island 1000km away from the mainland but we can't a few km outside the capital!
Anyway thanks for the inspiration, after an almost bike free end of 2023, I really need to get back out there and do some climbs myself but I'm terrified to discover how weak my legs must have gotten!
That hilltop climb was on my local loop. The right hand bend at the top my front wheel would come up slightly so steep and all those watts! 😂
If back in that area try Beddlestead up to Clarks lane. I enjoyed that.
Any climb is horrid when there is lots of traffic good call giving Chalk pit a miss
Chalk pit like whitedown Surrey, big cut through for cars.if an inconsiderate car comes down it forces you to stop and it’s nigh on impossible to start on 20% so back down and start again. Unfortunately there’s a lot more inconsiderate drivers around nowadays.
Bro I Hate all hills
Enjoyed the video 👍 this is my local area and mostly do that Northdowns area on my MTB, have gone down Hilltop lane a lot as I usually come over Farthing down on my road bike and back home in Redhill. That Warlingham area is horrible for traffic I generally don’t ride my road bike over that area as I really don’t like the cars and volume of traffic
I would recommend York’s Hill just over the border in Kent, that’s the hardest thing I have done 😢
Not in your neck of the woods, but if you want a hill climbing challenge, try the Saltash to Looe to Saltash route (about 28-miles). If you start by the river under in the shadow of the Brunel Bridge in Saltash, then you start with a brutal climb!
Horne Court Hill and Whitehill Lane to Harrow on the Hill are both proper steep. Tilburstow Hill from the A22 Blindley Heath up has to be one of the longer ones in Surrey. I've been living around The East Surrey area for over 35 years on and off. I love cycling but I hate cycling in the UK, too many entitled car owners, in too much of a hurry. Instead, I cross country run or MTB to get the same buzz when I'm in the UK. I do my "road" cycling when in Holland.
Definitely made the right choice. Trust your instincts.
Another great video. Can I suggest Waller Lane when you are in the area again. It's been used since the 1890's for events. My efforts. https://andrewsmithphotography-an-aside.blogspot.com/search/label/waller%20lane Now it's run as a charity fundraiser; normally in July. White Lane and Hilltop are tough. Hill top can also have high traffic volumes. There is another hard climb that you were very close to; it looks like you rode down Tandridge Hill Lane. You could have come up Gangers from Flower Lane. A good coffee stop is Flowers Farm by the way.
I've noticed this too about the roads, they have a 'mood' and sometimes that mood is grumpier than usual, like motorists become an amorphous blob and feed off each other's negativity/impatience. Not a nice place to be as a cyclist. Always best to adapt your route when you feel it I find.